Hades (god) | Article about Hades (god) by The Free Dictionary Hades (god) | Article about Hades (god) by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Hades (hā`dēz), in Greek and Roman religion and mythology. 1 The ruler of the underworld: see Pluto Pluto, in Greek religion and mythology, god of the underworld, son of Kronos and Rhea; also called Hades. After the fall of the Titans, Pluto and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon divided the universe, and Pluto was awarded everything underground. ..... Click the link for more information. . 2 The world of the dead, ruled by Pluto and Persephone, located either underground or in the far west beyond the inhabited regions. It was separated from the land of the living by the rivers Styx [hateful], Lethe [forgetfulness], Acheron [woeful], Phlegethon [fiery], and Cocytus [wailing]. The newly arrived dead were ferried across the Styx by the avaricious old ferryman Charon, whom they paid with the coin that was placed in their mouths when they were buried.

Unauthorized spirits who tried to enter or leave Hades were challenged by the fearful dog Cerberus. The honey cake that the Greeks buried with the dead was intended to quiet him. All the dead drank of the river of forgetfulness. The judges of the dead—Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus—assigned to each soul its appropriate abode. The virtuous and the heroic were rewarded in the Elysian fields Elysian fields or Elysium , in Greek religion and mythology, happy otherworld for heroes favored by the gods. Identified with the Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blest, Elysium was situated in the distant west, at the edge of the world. ..... Click the link for more information. ; wrongdoers were sent to Tartarus Tartarus, in Greek mythology, lowest region of the underworld. The wicked (e.g., Sisyphus, Tantalus, and Ixion) were sent to Tartarus as punishment for their sins. ..... Click the link for more information. ; and most wandered as dull shadows among fields of asphodel. A woodcut of an Assyrian seal depicting the descent of Ishtar into Hades. Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library.

Hades (religion, spiritualism, and occult) Hades is one of the eight hypothetical planets (sometimes referred to as the trans-Neptunian points or planets, or TNPs for short) utilized in Uranian astrology. The Uranian system, sometimes referred to as the Hamburg School of Astrology, was established by Friedrich Sieggrün (1877–1951) and Alfred Witte (1878–1943). It relies heavily on hard aspects and midpoints. In decline for many decades, it has experienced a revival in recent years. Hades is associated with such negative conditions and substances as poverty, ugliness, garbage, dirt, sickness, bacteria, loneliness, debasement, vulgarity, and crime. It is also connected with “past lifetimes,” the ancient past, and secrets, and in certain combinations can even represent ancient wisdom and the older sciences. This hypothetical planet can have positive meanings, particularly when found in the horoscopes of individuals who deal with such Hades matters as the healing of disease. Based on the speculative orbits of the Uranian planets, the Kepler, Solar Fire and Win*Star software program will all locate this hypothetical planet in an astrological chart.

Sources: Lang-Wescott, Martha. Mechanics of the Future: Asteroids. Rev. ed. Conway, MA: Treehouse Mountain, 1991. Simms, Maria Kay. Dial Detective: Investigation with the 90 Degree Dial. San Diego: Astro Computing Services, 1989. Hades Tartarus Encyclopedia > Literature and the Arts > Classical Literature, Mythology, and Folklore > Folklore and Mythology Tartarus Tartarus, in Greek mythology, lowest region of the underworld. The wicked (e.g., Sisyphus , Tantalus , and Ixion ) were sent to Tartarus as punishment for their sins. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. The Underworld | Greek Mythology Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [ show ] Taenarum Taenarum is the entrance to The Underworld, where the dead enter. Before the entrance to Hades live Grief and Anxiety, along with Diseases and Old Age. Also Fear, Hunger, Death, Agony, and Sleep, dwell in this place together with Guilty Joys.

On an opposite threshold is War, the Erinyes, and Eris. Close to the doors, many other beasts dwell consisting of Centaurs, Gorgons, the Lernaean Hydra, the Chimera, the Harpies, and others. In the midst of all this, an Elm can be seen where False Dreams cling under every leaf. The souls that enter the Underworld carry a coin under their tongue to pay Charon to take them across the river. Charon may make exceptions or allowances for those visitors carrying a certain Golden Bough. Otherwise, this Charon is appallingly filthy with eyes like jets of fire, a bush of unkempt beard upon his chin, and a dirty cloak hanging from his shoulders. Although Charon embarks now one group now another, some souls he keeps at distance. These are the unburied where they can't be taken across from bank to bank if he had not received burial. Across the river guarding the gates of the Underworld is Cerberus. There is also an area where the Judges of the Underworld decide where to send the souls of the person where each one is sent to either Elysium, the Fields of Asphodel, or the Fields of Punishment.

Tartarus Tartarus is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Well-known residents of Tartarus included is Tantalus , Sisyphus , Ixion , the Danaides, and Tityus. It is not considered to be directly a part of the underworld, it is described as being as far beneath the underworld as the earth is beneath the sky. It is so dark that the "night is poured around it in three rows like a collar round the neck, while above it grow the roots of the earth and of the unharvested sea." Tartarus is the place that Zeus cast the Titans along with his father Cronus after defeating them. Homer wrote that Cronus then became the king of Tartarus. While Odysseus does not see them himself, he mentions some of the people within the underworld who are experiencing punishment for their sins. The Fields of Asphodel The Asphodel Meadows was a place for ordinary or indifferent souls who did not commit any significant crimes, but who also did not achieve any greatness or recognition that would warrant them being admitted to the Elysian Fields.

It was where mortals who did not belong anywhere else in the Underworld were sent. The Fields of Punishment The Fields of Punishment was a place for those who had created havoc on the world and committed crimes specifically against the gods. Hades himself would make the individual's punishment of eternal suffering based on their specific crime. Elysium Elysium was a place for the especially distinguished. It was ruled over by Rhadamanthus, and the souls that dwell there had an easy afterlife and had no labors. Usually, those who had proximity to the gods were granted admission, rather than those who were especially righteous or had ethical merit. Most accepted to Elysium were demigods or heros. Heroes such as Cadmus, Peleus, and Achilles also were transported here after their deaths. Normal people who lived righteous and virtuous lives could also gain entrance such as Socrates who proved his worth sufficiently through philosophy. Hades's Castle Hades and Persephone live here. Some of his servants may live here. The Isles of the Blessed The Isles of the Blessed were islands in the realm of Elysium.

When a soul achieved Elysium, they had a choice to either stay in Elysium or to be reborn. If a soul was reborn three times and achieved Elysium all three times, then they were sent to the Isles of the Blessed to be sentenced to eternal paradise. Rivers River Akheron ( River Acheron ) This river flows from Earth into Hades. This is the entrance to Hades, and Charon rides from here to the River Styx. If you were to bathe in this river, you would be cleansed from the sins you have committed on Earth. River Lethe Those who touch the waters of this River are said to experience complete forgetfulness and amnesia. It flows around the cave which Hypnos lives in. Many souls are required to drink from this River, except for those in Elysium. If one is to be reincarnated, they must drink from it before doing so. It borders Elysium. River Pyriphlegethon ( River Phlegethon ) This river is opposite of the River Styx, and also borders and flows into Tartarus. It is made of flames and blood, despite being a river.

This is where all of the wicked souls go after death, who aren't so evil they go to Tartarus. River Styx The River Styx is one of five infernal rivers in Hades. It is the River of Hatred. If one were to bath in it, they would be invincible except in any spot that wa not immersed in the river ( Achilles and the Achilles tendon). The gods swear on it when making promises. Charon escorts dead souls to Hades and assigns them to the area they are to live in for eternity from here. Others The river Eridanos was named several times in Greek mythology. The writer Virgil considered it one of the rivers of Hades, but is not often considered among other writers. The pool of Mnemosyne was sometimes listed as a body of water in Hades. Named after the titaness of memory , it restored all the knowledge forgotten in the Lethe, and in some versions gave its drinker omniscience. Residents Achlys Judges of the Underworld Minos , Rhadamanthus , and Aeacus are the Judge of the dead and they are all sons of Zeus. They judged the deeds of the deceased and created the laws that governed the underworld.

However, none of the laws provided a true justice to the souls of the dead, and the dead did not receive rewards for following them or punishment for wicked actions. Aeacus was the guardian of the Keys of the Underworld and the judge of the men of Europe. Rhadamanthys was Lord of Elysium and judge of the men of Asia. Minos was the judge of the final vote. Greek Mythology | Once Upon a Time Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Fourth, Heracles used a giant net to snare the terrifying, man-eating wild boar of Mount Erymanthus. The Augean Stables Heracles’ fifth task was supposed to be humiliating as well as impossible: cleaning all the dung out of King Augeas’ enormous stables in a single day. However, Heracles completed the job easily, flooding the barn by diverting two nearby rivers. The Stymphalian Birds Heracles’ sixth task was straightforward: travel to the town of Stymphalos and drive away the huge flock of carnivorous birds that had taken up residence in its trees. This time, it was the goddess Athena who came to the hero’s aid.

She gave him a pair of magical bronze krotala, or noisemakers, forged by the god Hephaistos. Heracles used these tools to frighten the birds away. The Cretan Bull Next, Heracles went to Crete to capture a rampaging bull that had impregnated the wife of the island’s king. Heracles drove the bull back to Eurystheus, who released it into the streets of Marathon. The Mares of Diomedes Heracles’ eighth challenge was to capture the four man-eating mares of the Thracian king Diomedes. He brought them to Eurystheus, who dedicated the mares to Hera and set them free. The Belt of Hippolyta The ninth labor was complicated: stealing an armored belt that belonged to the Amazon queen Hippolyta. At first, the queen welcomed Heracles and agreed to give him the belt without a fight. However, the troublemaking Hera disguised herself as an Amazon warrior and spread a rumor that Heracles intended to kidnap the queen. To protect their leader, the women attacked the hero’s fleet; then, fearing for his safety, Heracles killed Hippolyta and ripped the belt from her body.

The Cattle of Geryon For his 10th labor, Heracles was dispatched nearly to Africa to steal the cattle of the three-headed, six-legged monster Geryon. Once again, Hera did all she could to prevent the hero from succeeding, but eventually he returned to Mycenae with the cows. The Apples of the Hesperides Next, Eurystheus sent Heracles to steal Hera’s wedding gift to Zeus: a set of golden apples guarded by a group of nymphs known as the Hesperides. This task was difficult — Heracles needed the help of the mortal Prometheus and the titan Atlas to pull it off — but the hero eventually managed to run away with the apples. After he showed them to the king, he returned them to the gods’ garden where they belonged. Cerberus For his final challenge, Heracles traveled to the Underworld to kidnap Cerberus, the vicious three-headed dog that guarded its gates. Heracles managed to capture Cerberus by using his superhuman strength to wrestle the monster to the ground. Afterward, the dog returned unharmed to his post at the entrance to the Underworld.

Later in his life, Heracles had a number of other adventures — rescuing the princess of Troy, battling for control of Mount Olympus — but none were as taxing, or as significant, as the labors had been. When he died, Athena carried him to Olympus on her chariot. According to legend, he spent the rest of eternity with the gods. King Midas Once, as Ovid relates in Metamorphoses XI. Dionysus found his old schoolmaster and foster father, the satyr Silenus, missing. The old satyr Silenus had been drinking wine and had wandered away drunk, later to be found by some Phrygian peasants, who carried him to their king, Midas (alternatively, he passed out in Midas' rose garden). Midas recognized him and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with politeness, while Silenus delighted Midas and his friends with stories and songs. On the eleventh day, he brought Silenus back to Dionysus in Lydia. Dionysus offered Midas his choice of whatever reward he wished for. Midas asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold.

Midas rejoiced in his new power, which he hastened to put to the test. He touched an oak twig and a stone; both turned to gold. Overjoyed, as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a feast on the table. "So Midas, king of Lydia, swelled at first with pride when he found he could transform everything he touched to gold; but when he beheld his food grow rigid and his drink harden into golden ice then he understood that this gift was a bane and in his loathing for gold, cursed his prayer" (Claudian, In Rufinem). In a version told by Nathaniel Hawthorne in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys (1852), Midas found that when he touched Zoë, his daughter, she turned to gold as well. Now, Midas hated the gift he had coveted. He prayed to Dionysus, begging to be delivered from starvation. Dionysus heard his prayer, and consented; telling Midas to wash in the river Pactolus. Then, what ever he put into the water would be reversed of the touch.

Midas did so, and when he touched the waters, the power flowed into the river, and the river sands turned into gold. This explained why the river Pactolus was so rich in gold, and the wealth of the dynasty claiming Midas as its forefather no doubt the impetus for this aetiological myth. Gold was perhaps not the only metallic source of Midas' riches: "King Midas, a Phrygian, son of Cybele, first discovered black and white lead". Orpheus Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music, his attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting. The most famous story in which Orpheus figures is that of his wife Eurydice.

While walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice was set upon by a satyr. In her efforts to escape the satyr, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus travelled to the underworld. By his music he softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (he was the only person ever to do so), who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following, and, in his anxiety, as soon as he reached the upper world, he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time, but now forever.

The story in this form belongs to the time of Virgil, who first introduces the name of Aristaeus (by the time of Virgil's Georgics, the myth has Aristaeus chasing Eurydice when she was bitten by a serpent) and the tragic outcome. Other ancient writers, however, speak of Orpheus' visit to the underworld in a more negative light; according to Phaedrus in Plato's Symposium, the infernal gods only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. Ovid says that Eurydice's death was not caused by fleeing from Aristaeus but by dancing with naiads on her wedding day. In fact, Plato's representation of Orpheus is that of a coward, as instead of choosing to die in order to be with the one he loved, he instead mocked the gods by trying to go to Hades to bring her back alive. Since his love was not "true"—he did not want to die for love—he was actually punished by the gods, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld, and then by being killed by women.

Pandora's Box The "box" was actually a large jar given to Pandora, which contained all the evils of the world. Pandora was the first woman on Earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create her. So he did, using water and earth. The deities endowed her with many gifts: Athena clothed her, Aphrodite gave her beauty, Apollo gave her musical ability, and Hermes gave her speech. When Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Pandora was given a wedding gift of a beautiful jar, with instructions to not open it under any circumstance. Impelled by her curiosity (given to her by the deities), Pandora opened it and all evil contained therein escaped and spread over the earth. She hastened to close the container, but the whole contents had escaped; Apate and all the others, except for one thing that lay at the bottom – the Spirit of Hope, named Elpis. Pandora, deeply saddened by what she had done, feared she would have to face Zeus' wrath, since she had failed her duty. However, Zeus did not punish Pandora because he knew this would happen.

Perseus When Perseus was grown, Polydectes came to fall in love with the beautiful Danaë. Perseus believed Polydectes was less than honourable, and protected his mother from him; then Polydectes plotted to send Perseus away in disgrace. He held a large banquet where each guest was expected to bring a gift. Polydectes requested that the guests bring horses, under the pretense that he was collecting contributions for the hand of Hippodamia, "tamer of horses". Perseus had no horse to give, so he asked Polydectes to name the gift; he would not refuse it. Polydectes held Perseus to his rash promise and demanded the head of the only mortal Gorgon, Medusa, whose eyes turned people to stone. Ovid's account of Medusa's mortality tells that she had once been a woman, vain of her beautiful hair, who had lain with Poseidon in the Temple of Athena. In punishment for the desecration of her temple, Athena had changed Medusa's hair into hideous snakes "that she may alarm her surprised foes with terror".

Athena instructed Perseus to find the Hesperides, who were entrusted with weapons needed to defeat the Gorgon. Following Athena's guidance, Perseus sought out the Graeae, sisters of the Gorgons, to demand the whereabouts of the Hesperides, the nymphs tending Hera's orchard. The Graeae were three perpetually old women, who had to share a single eye. As the women passed the eye from one to another, Perseus snatched it from them, holding it for ransom in return for the location of the nymphs. When the sisters led him to the Hesperides, he returned what he had taken. From the Hesperides he received a knapsack (kibisis) to safely contain Medusa's head. Zeus gave him an adamantine sword and Hades' helm of darkness to hide. Hermes lent Perseus winged sandals to fly, while Athena gave him a polished shield. Perseus then proceeded to the Gorgons' cave. In the cave he came upon the sleeping Medusa. By viewing Medusa's reflection in his polished shield, he safely approached and cut off her head.

From her neck sprang Pegasus ("he who sprang") and Chrysaor ("bow of gold"), the result of Poseidon and Medusa's meeting. The other two Gorgons pursued Perseus, but, wearing his helm of darkness, he escaped. Prometheus Prometheus was one of the Titans, son of Iapetus (also a Titan) and Clymene, an Oceanid. His brothers were Epimetheus, Atlas and Menoetius. The name derives from the Greek word meaning "forethought". Prometheus and his brother, Epimetheus, were spared imprisonment in Tartarus because they had not fought with their fellow Titans during the war with the Olympians. They were given the task of creating man. Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and Athena breathed life into his clay figure. Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the creatures of the earth their various qualities, such as swiftness, cunning, strength, fur, and wings. Unfortunately, by the time he got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out and there were none left for man. So Prometheus decided to make man stand upright as the gods did and to give him fire.

Prometheus loved man more then the Olympians, who had banished most of his family to Tartarus. So when Zeus decreed that man must present a portion of each animal he scarified to the gods, Prometheus decided to trick Zeus. He created two piles, one with the bones wrapped in juicy fat, the other with the good meat hidden in the hide. He then bade Zeus to pick. Zeus picked the bones. Since he had given his word, Zeus had to accept this pile as his share for future sacrafices. In his anger over the trick, he took fire away from man. However, Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and brought it back again to man. Zeus was enraged that man again had fire. He decided to inflict a terrable punishment on both man and Prometheus. To punish man, Zeus had Hephaestus create a mortal of stunning beauty. The gods gave the mortal many gifts of wealth. He then had Hermes give the mortal a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the first woman. A final gift was a jar which Pandora was forbidden to open. Thus completed, Zeus sent Pandora down to Epimetheus, who was staying amongst the men.

Zeus was angry at Prometheus for three things: being tricked by the sacrifices, stealing fire for man, and refusing to tell Zeus which of Zeus's children would dethrone him. Zeus had his servants, Force and Violence, seize Prometheus, take him to the Caucasus Mountains, and chain him to a rock with unbreakable adamanite chains. Here he was tormented day and night by a giant eagle tearing at his liver. Zeus gave Prometheus two ways out of this torment. He could tell Zeus who the mother of the child that would dethrone him was, or meet two conditions. The first was that an immortal must volunteer to die for Prometheus, and the second was that a mortal must kill the eagle and unchain him. Eventually, Chiron the Centaur agreed to die for him and Heracles killed the eagle and unbound him. Sirens The sirens were dangerous yet beautiful creatures, portrayed as femmes fatales who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. In Argonautica (4.891–919), Jason had been warned by Chiron that Orpheus would be necessary in his journey.

When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew out his lyre and played his music more beautifully than they, drowning out their voices. One of the crew, however, the sharp-eared hero Butes, heard the song and leapt into the sea, but he was caught up and carried safely away by the goddess Aphrodite. Odysseus was curious as to what the Sirens sang to him, and so, on the advice of Circe, he had all of his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied tightly to the mast, no matter how much he would beg. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they bound him tighter. When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus demonstrated with his frowns to be released. Some post-Homeric authors state that the Sirens were fated to die if someone heard their singing and escaped them, and that after Odysseus passed by they therefore flung themselves into the water and perished. It is also said that Hera, queen of the deities, persuaded the Sirens to enter a singing contest with the Muses.

The Muses won the competition and then plucked out all of the Sirens' feathers and made crowns out of them. Out of their anguish from losing the competition, writes Stephanus of Byzantium, the Sirens turned white and fell into the sea at Aptera ("featherless"), where they formed the islands in the bay that were called Leukai ("white"). Underworld The Greek Underworld, also referred to as Hades, was an otherworld where souls went after death and was the Greek idea of afterlife. At the moment of death the soul was separated from the corpse, taking on the shape of the former person, and was transported to the entrance of Underworld. The Underworld itself was described as being either at the outer bounds of the ocean or beneath the depths or ends of the earth. It was considered the dark counterpart to the brightness of Mount Olympus, and was the kingdom of the dead that corresponded to the kingdom of the gods. Hades was a realm invisible to the living and it was made solely for the dead. Rivers There were five main rivers that appear both in the real world and the underworld.

Their names were meant to reflect the emotions associated with death: The Styx is generally considered to be one of the most prominent and central rivers of the Underworld and is also the most widely known out of all the rivers. It is known as the river of hatred and is named after the goddess Styx. This river circles the underworld seven times. The Acheron is the river of pain. It is the river that Charon, also known as the Ferryman, rows the dead over according to many mythological accounts, though sometimes it is the river Styx or both. The Lethe is the river of forgetfulness. It is associated with the goddess Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness and oblivion. In later accounts a poplar branch dripping with water of the Lethe became the symbol of Hypnos, the god of sleep. The Phlegethon is the river of fire. According to Plato, this river led to the depths of Tartarus. The Cocytus is the river of wailing. Entrance of the Underworld The Entrance of the Underworld is where the dead enter. Before the entrance to Hades live Grief and Anxiety, along with Diseases and Old Age.

Also Fear, Hunger, Death, Agony, and Sleep, dwell in this place together with Guilty Joys. On an opposite threshold is War, the Erinyes, and Eris. Close to the doors, many other beasts dwell consisting of Centaurs, Gorgons, the Lernaean Hydra, the Chimera, the Harpies, and others. In the midst of all this, an Elm can be seen where False Dreams cling under every leaf. The souls that enter the Underworld carry a coin under their tongue to pay Charon to take them across the river. Charon may make exceptions or allowances for those visitors carrying a certain Golden Bough. Otherwise, this Charon is appallingly filthy with eyes like jets of fire, a bush of unkempt beard upon his chin, and a dirty cloak hanging from his shoulders. Although Charon embarks now one group now another, some souls he keeps at distance. These are the unburied where they can't be taken across from bank to bank if he had not received burial. Across the river guarding the gates of the Underworld is Cerberus.

There is also an area where the Judges of the Underworld (consisting of the souls of King Rhadamanthus, King Aeacus, and King Minos) decide where to send the souls of the person where each one is sent to either Elysium, Tartarus, or the Asphodel Meadows. King Aeacus judged the souls that came from Europe, King Rhadamanthus judged the souls that came from Asia, and King Minos made the deciding vote. Tartarus Tartarus is not considered to be directly a part of the underworld, it is described as being as far beneath the underworld as the earth is beneath the sky. It is so dark that the "night is poured around it in three rows like a collar round the neck, while above it grow the roots of the earth and of the unharvested sea." Tartarus is the place that Zeus cast the Titans along with his father Cronus after defeating them during the Titanomachy. Homer wrote that Cronus then became the king of Tartarus. While Odysseus does not see them himself, he mentions some of the people within the underworld who are experiencing punishment for their sins.

Tartarus was later made a place for those who had created havoc on the world and committed crimes specifically against the gods. Known afterlife residents in Tartarus include King Sisyphus, King Tantalus, King Ixion, the Daughters of Danaus, and the giant Tityos. Asphodel Meadows The Asphodel Meadows was a place for ordinary or indifferent souls who did not commit any significant crimes, but who also did not achieve any greatness or recognition that would warrant them being admitted to the Elysian Fields. It was where mortals who did not belong anywhere else in the Underworld were sent. Vale of Mourning Hades | Article about Hades by The Free Dictionary Hades | Article about Hades by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Medical , Acronyms , Wikipedia . Hades (hā`dēz), in Greek and Roman religion and mythology. 1 The ruler of the underworld: see Pluto Pluto, in Greek religion and mythology, god of the underworld, son of Kronos and Rhea; also called Hades. After the fall of the Titans, Pluto and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon divided the universe, and Pluto was awarded everything underground. .....

Click the link for more information. . 2 The world of the dead, ruled by Pluto and Persephone, located either underground or in the far west beyond the inhabited regions. It was separated from the land of the living by the rivers Styx [hateful], Lethe [forgetfulness], Acheron [woeful], Phlegethon [fiery], and Cocytus [wailing]. The newly arrived dead were ferried across the Styx by the avaricious old ferryman Charon, whom they paid with the coin that was placed in their mouths when they were buried. Unauthorized spirits who tried to enter or leave Hades were challenged by the fearful dog Cerberus. The honey cake that the Greeks buried with the dead was intended to quiet him. All the dead drank of the river of forgetfulness. The judges of the dead—Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus—assigned to each soul its appropriate abode. The virtuous and the heroic were rewarded in the Elysian fields Elysian fields or Elysium , in Greek religion and mythology, happy otherworld for heroes favored by the gods.

Identified with the Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blest, Elysium was situated in the distant west, at the edge of the world. ..... Click the link for more information. ; wrongdoers were sent to Tartarus Tartarus, in Greek mythology, lowest region of the underworld. The wicked (e.g., Sisyphus, Tantalus, and Ixion) were sent to Tartarus as punishment for their sins. ..... Click the link for more information. ; and most wandered as dull shadows among fields of asphodel. A woodcut of an Assyrian seal depicting the descent of Ishtar into Hades. Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library. Hades (religion, spiritualism, and occult) Hades is one of the eight hypothetical planets (sometimes referred to as the trans-Neptunian points or planets, or TNPs for short) utilized in Uranian astrology. The Uranian system, sometimes referred to as the Hamburg School of Astrology, was established by Friedrich Sieggrün (1877–1951) and Alfred Witte (1878–1943). It relies heavily on hard aspects and midpoints.

In decline for many decades, it has experienced a revival in recent years. Hades is associated with such negative conditions and substances as poverty, ugliness, garbage, dirt, sickness, bacteria, loneliness, debasement, vulgarity, and crime. It is also connected with “past lifetimes,” the ancient past, and secrets, and in certain combinations can even represent ancient wisdom and the older sciences. This hypothetical planet can have positive meanings, particularly when found in the horoscopes of individuals who deal with such Hades matters as the healing of disease. Based on the speculative orbits of the Uranian planets, the Kepler, Solar Fire and Win*Star software program will all locate this hypothetical planet in an astrological chart. Sources: Lang-Wescott, Martha. Mechanics of the Future: Asteroids. Rev. ed. Conway, MA: Treehouse Mountain, 1991. Simms, Maria Kay. Dial Detective: Investigation with the 90 Degree Dial. San Diego: Astro Computing Services, 1989.

Hades Tartarus facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Tartarus Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes © Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes 2007, originally published by Oxford University Press 2007.

Tartarus • Arras , embarrass, harass •gynandrous, polyandrous •Pancras • charas • Tatras • disastrous •ferrous • leprous • ambidextrous •Carreras, mayoress •scabrous •cirrus, Pyrrhus •chivalrous •citrous, citrus •ludicrous • tenebrous •Cyrus, Epirus, papyrus, virus •fibrous • hydrous • Cyprus •retrovirus • monstrous •brachiosaurus, brontosaurus, canorous, chorus, Epidaurus , Horus , megalosaurus, pelorus, porous, sorus, stegosaurus, Taurus , thesaurus, torus, tyrannosaurus •walrus •ochrous (US ocherous) •cumbrous • wondrous • lustrous • Algeciras , Severus •desirous • Arcturus , Epicurus , Honduras •barbarous • tuberous • slumberous •Cerberus • rapturous •lecherous, treacherous •torturous • vulturous • Pandarus •slanderous • ponderous •malodorous

, odorous •thunderous • murderous •carboniferous, coniferous, cruciferous, melliferous, odoriferous, pestiferous, somniferous, splendiferous, umbelliferous, vociferous •phosphorous, phosphorus •sulphurous (US sulfurous) •Anaxagoras, Pythagoras •clangorous, languorous •rigorous, vigorous •dangerous • verdurous •cankerous, cantankerous, rancorous •decorous • Icarus • valorous •dolorous • idolatrous •amorous, clamorous, glamorous •timorous •humerus, humorous, numerous •murmurous • generous • sonorous •onerous • obstreperous • Hesperus •vaporous • viviparous • viperous •Bosporus, prosperous •stuporous • cancerous •Monoceros, rhinoceros •sorcerous • adventurous • Tartarus •nectarous • dexterous • traitorous •preposterous • slaughterous •boisterous, roisterous •uterus • adulterous • stertorous •cadaverous • feverous •c

arnivorous, herbivorous, insectivorous, omnivorous •Lazarus Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA House of Hades Underworld The world of the dead or the netherworld was commonly viewed, by the ancient religions, to be a subterranean realm, ruled by a god or goddess, or both. Almost all mortals would reside in the netherworld, after their death. Few gained godhood and fewer still gained places in the Olympus, the home of the Olympian gods and goddesses . For people who read about the afterlife in Greek mythology, you must ignore the Christian and Islamic concepts of heaven and hell scenarios that are so common in medieval and modern religions. For the Greeks and Romans, death was inevitable and all men were allotted to their fates, and all were given places in the Netherworld. In the Greek mythology, the rulers of the Underworld were Hades and Persephone , which the Romans called Pluto (or Dis Pater) and Prosperina. In classical mythology, the world of the dead or the netherworld has many different names. Though, the ruler of the Underworld was named Hades, the netherworld itself was popularly called Hades.

The domain of Hades has many different names, such as Underworld, Hades, House of Hades, Erebus, Tartarus, Elysium and Isles of the Blessed. Hades is a popular name and it is often used interchangeably with the Underworld, for the entire subterranean realm. Hades (Underworld) was the named after its ruler, Hades , who was the son of Cronus and Rhea, and brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. Hades was known in the Roman myths, as Pluto. His wife and consort was Persephone or Prosperina (Prosperine) according to the Roman myths. After the war between the Titans and Olympians, Hades and his two brothers decided to divide the universe between them. Zeus receive the sky or Olympus, Poseidon became lord of the sea, while Hades ruled the Underworld. The Earth was shared by all, but Zeus became the supreme ruler of the universe. See Hades under Deities of the Netherworld section, for more detail about the god of the dead.

As I have said, the Underworld was subterranean domain of Hades, where the sunlight never shined, and the climate was either cold or chilling. The entire domain was divided into several regions, and having several different types of landmarks. Hades (Underworld) could also refer to Hades' residential palace, which was called the House of Hades, where he lived with Persephone. His palace seemed to be separate from other parts of his realm. There were five subterranean rivers flowing through the Underworld. They were called Acheron ("Woe"), Cocytus ("Wailing"), Lethe ("Forgetfulness"), Phlegethon or Pyriphlegethon ("Fiery"), and Styx ("Abhorrence"). The shades must cross all five rivers before they can be judged and sent to their final resting place. The river Styx was named after the river-goddess Styx , the eldest daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Charon ferried the shades across the river Acheron or Styx, for a fare of one coin (obol). Those few mortals who ventured into Hades were also required to pay a toll to the ferryman.

Only the singer Orpheus didn't pay for a toll, because his music from his lyre had charmed Charon. However, Charon barred Orpheus from entering the Underworld a second time. In The Aeneid, Charon wanted to refuse passage for the hero Aeneas and the prophetess Sibyl, until she revealed the sacred Golden Bough. The Stygian water of Styx seemed to burst from Mount Aroanius, in Arcadia. The oath sworn by the name of Styx was the most sacred of oaths to the gods. The Underworld was divided into two or more main regions. Erebus was the upper region, while Tartarus was the lowest region, where most of the Titans were imprisoned. There were three minor gods in the Underworld, who acted as judges and presided over the souls of the dead. These three were Minos and Rhadamanthys , sons of Europa, and Aeacus , the son of Aegina. Most mortals who died will find their final resting place in the Plain of Asphodel, which was part of the Erebus region. The shades that dwelled here have no memories of their former lives.

The place was gray and gloomy, but the shades who populated this region will experience neither joy, nor sorrow. Only a few mortals will ever gain entry to the Elysian Fields . The Elysian Fields was also part of the region in Erebus. See Elysian Fields for more description. Others, who led a wicked life, were sent down to Tartarus and punished for their crime or sin. Among the notable figures to be punished in Tartarus, were Tityus, Ixion, Sisyphus and Tantalus . Both Erebus and Tartarus were said to be the primordial gods, who became personifications of these two regions. Erebus (Darkness) was the son of Nyx (Night) and perhaps of Chaos. While Tartarus was born or came into existence at the same time as Gaea or Ge (Earth) and Eros (Love). See Erebus and Tartarus in the Ancient Deities for these two personifications; and in the next article on the region of Tartarus .

There are many deities who lived in the Underworld, apart from Hades and Persephone, such as Styx, Hecate, and the brothers Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death). You will find all these Underworld deities in Deities of the Netherworld . The Roman myths about the Underworld were no different from that of the Greeks, except the deities may have Roman names instead of Greek. Only a few people had bravely or foolishly entered the infernal realm while they were still alive. Theseus and his rash companion, Peirithous went to the Underworld, with the intention of abducting Persephone, wife of Hades. Heracles , who was performing one of his famous labours, to fetch Cerberus , Hades' hound, he had managed to free Theseus from the Chair of Forgetfulness. Heracles entered the Underworld through Alcyonian Lake, near Lerna, Argolis, as did Dionysus . Orpheus, on the other hand, sought entry at Cape Taenarum, in southern Peloponnesus.

Orpheus , the famous singer/bard, had tried to bring his wife Eurydice to life, but failed because he had broken the condition Hades had set upon him. Psyche was the only woman I know of, who entered the Netherworld and return back to the surface. She had to perform an errand for Venus (Aphrodite), mother of Cupid (Eros), to fetch cosmetic box from Persephone, had almost died in this undertaking. Odysseus only went to the Underworld to receive counsel from the dead Theban seer, Teiresias , but he met other shades. Odysseus was given specific instruction on how to enter the Underworld. Unlike, others who dare to venture into the land of the dead, Odysseus sailed his ship to the stream Oceanus, until the ship reached the grove of Persephone, a grove of poplars and willows. Similarly, the Trojan hero Aeneas visited his father, Anchises, also for advice. Both of these heroes weren't required to enter the very depth of the Netherworld. The entry to the Underworld was at Avernus, a lake near Naples.

The Sibyl instructed Aeneas to fetch the Golden Bough, which allowed Aeneas safe passage through the netherworld. The bough was sacred to Persephone/Prosperine. The beautiful youth Adonis spend a third of his life in the Underworld with Persephone, while the other two-third was spend on the surface with Aphrodite, because the two goddesses were in love with him. But when he died during hunting, he had to spend the rest of his afterlife in the Underworld. Sisyphus was more successful in coming back to life, because the wily king had duped Hades into sending him back. However, when Sisyphus had eventually died in his old age, he was punished by the gods, where he had to toil endlessly, rolling a large boulder to the top of the hill. Elysian Fields Hesiod called the Elysium – the Isle of Blessed. Those mortals, who were lucky to be favoured by the gods, will dwell in the Elysium, or Elysian Fields, were indeed blessed. The majority of the shades of the departed go to Plain of Asphodel .

In The Aeneid, Virgil gave several other names, such as Land of Joy, the Fortunate Wood and the Home of the Blest. Here the shades were allowed to retain their memories of past lives. The environment in Elysium was peaceful and joyous, able to enjoy the pleasures they experience when alive, such as hunting, sports, music and feasts. The shades were able to reside in Elysium in eternal bliss. Rhadamanthys , son of Zeus and Europa , ruled the Elysian Fields. Some say that Elysium, was not located in the Underworld, but on earth. Most who wrote about it, says Elysium was situated on the White Island, which was called Leuke, near the mouth of the Danube River, in the Black Sea. The Isles of the Blessed was something like the Valhalla for the heroes, in Norse myths. Or it was like the Otherworld or Sidhe of the Celtic myths, where the region was filled with sunlight, it never rain, yet the vegetation remained green. Among those who lived there was Achilles , who married to Helen of Troy or to the Colchian sorceress Medea , in the afterlife.

Other heroes, who lived in White Island, were his Achilles' cousin Ajax , and his two beloved friends - Patroclus and Antiochus, son of Nestor. The hero Aeneas found his father, Anchises in Elysium. According to the Orphic Mysteries , the main goal of the believer is that to reach the Elysium, but it may take at least three lifetimes of living a virtuous life. The Orphic cult was influence by the Eastern belief of reincarnation. Only by living virtuous life, avoiding wine and eating meat, and abstinence from sex, could one gain entry to Elysian Fields. Tartarus Tartarus was the deepest region of the Underworld that it was said that it took nine days and nine nights for an anvil to fall from the earth surface to the very bottom of Tartarus. Tartarus was the area where the Zeus and the Olympians had confined Cronus and the other male Titans . Originally Uranus (Ouranos) had confined the Hundred-Handed and the Cyclopes in Tartarus, but Zeus had freed them, during the war against the Titans . They were instrumental to Zeus' victory.

With the Titans confined in Tartarus, the Hundred-Handed guarded the prison as warders. It was described that Tartarus was surrounded by bronze fence with iron gates. Hades (Pluto) Lord of the Underworld . Hades was the son of the titans, Cronus and Rhea . Hades was the god of the dead, and ruled his world with more absolute power and authority than Zeus. Hades was a grim god, not an evil one. His other name Aïdoneus (Aidoneus) means the "Unseen One". To the Romans, he was known as Pluto (wealth) and Dis Pater or Dis. Pluto is the name of the ninth planet in the solar system. Charon is Pluto's moon or satellite. Hades was among the children of Cronus, to be swallowed by their father, and later disgorged. Hades was armed with the Cap of Darkness (invisibility), in which he used to aid Zeus in the war against the Titans. After aiding brothers Zeus and Poseidon, in overthrowing Cronus and sending the other Titans to Tartarus, he received the world of the dead, known as Underworld, as his domain. Hades rarely left the Underworld.

He drove his chariot drawn by black horses, and abducted Persephone , daughter of Zeus and his sister, Demeter . He wanted Persephone as his wife and queen of the Underworld. He was forced to compromise with his sister, Demeter: he allowed Persephone to lived two-third of the year on earth with her mother and a third with him in the Underworld. In the war between Heracles and the people of Pylus, for some reasons, Hades left his realm and took side of Neleus and the Pylians, so he received a wound from the hero. The Underworld was a place where the souls of human find their resting places. In the deepest region called Tartarus , it was a place of punishment for mortal who committed the worse sins or crimes. Tartarus also served as a prison for the Titans and other gods. The Underworld was guarded by a three-headed hound, named Cerberus. Cerberus kept the living and the dead apart. Cerberus had only allowed few of the living to pass through the gate of Hades: Heracles, Theseus, Orpheus, Aeneas and Psyche.

In the last labour of Heracles , freed Theseus and dragged the Cerberus to the surface (see the Twelfth Labour of Heracles ). Theseus was there because he was aiding his rash friend Peirithoüs , who wanted to abduct Hades' wife, Persephone, and marry her. Knowing of their plan, Hades trapped them in the Chairs of Forgetfulness. Heracles failed to free Peirithoüs. (See also Theseus .) During the war between Heracles and Neleus, king of Pylos, Hades came to the surface, take the side of the Pylians, and Heracles wounded him with an arrow. Hades returned to his domain, suffering from his wound with the dead. Hades and Persephone were charmed by the music and song of Orpheus , who had lost his wife Eurydice. Hades allowed Orpheus to bring his wife back to life, on the strict condition that Orpheus doesn't look at his wife until they reached the light on the surface. Orpheus looked back at his wife too soon, and her shade returned to the abode of the dead. Hades refused Orpheus entrance a second time.

(See Orpheus and Eurydice .) Psyche , wife of Cupid (Eros), was on an errand for her mother-in-law Venus (Aphrodite). She was told to fetch the make-up box from Persephone. According to Ovid and the geographer Strabo, Hades took the nymph Menthe or Minthe as his mistress. Persephone jealously trampled the unfortunate girl, transforming her into a plant, known as mint. Hades and Persephone weren't the only one to live in the Underworld. There were Thanatos (Death), the winged-brother Hypnos (Sleep), and Morpheus (Dream), who was the son of Hypnos. Styx was the river goddess of one of the Underworld rivers, and the goddess Hecate , had also dwelled in this domain. Hades has cattle which he kept near the cattle of Geryon, near Erytheia. Hades' herdsman was named Menoetes. When Heracles (10th labour) arrived and stole Geryon's cattle, Menoetes went directly to the three-headed king with the news of cattle.

Menoetes met Heracles again in the 12th labour, where he wrestled the hero, and would have been crushed to death had not Persephone not intervened. Elis was the only city that built a temple to Hades in one of its precincts. The Eleans were the only one to worship him. The construction was built after Heracles' war against Neleus in Pylos. Only once a year, the doors to the temple of Hades would open, but no one would enter the temple except the priests. For more detail about the Underworld, Tartarus and Elysian Fields, go to Underworld . Persephone (Kore) A goddess of the underworld. Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter . She is known (or by her title) as Kore (Κόρη, "maiden"). The Romans called her Proserpina . Before she was abducted, she was perhaps the personification of spring and goddess of corns, fruits and flowers. After her abduction, she became known as the dreaded goddess of the Underworld.

Persephone was playing in the meadow with her companions, the Oceanids (daughters of Oceanus), when Hades saw and fell in love with her. It was said that Hades had made arrangement with his brother Zeus, over the abduction and marriage of Persephone without Demeter's prior knowledge. It was Hecate and Helius who revealed to Demeter who had abducted her daughter. Her uncle, Hades , made Persephone his wife and queen. Hades had tricked Persephone into eating the pomegranate seeds, so that she could not leave the Underworld for very long. Since she had eaten the seeds in the Underworld, she had to stay with her husband. However, Zeus or Hermes made Hades and Demeter compromise of where and when Persephone should live. Persephone was to live a third of the year with new husband Hades, and the rest with her mother Demeter. A more detailed myth of her abduction and her mother Demeter can be found in the Mother Goddesses page, under the title, Demeter and Persephone . In the Underworld, Hecate became her companion.

Persephone was the half-sister of Despoina , the goddess of horses, whom she was sometimes confused with. A slightly different version of her abduction can be found in Ovid's Metamorphoses and in Hyginus Fabulae. Some accounts called her the daughter of Zeus and Styx , the Underworld river goddess. This suggests that she had always lived in the Underworld. In some myths, Persephone appeared to be more of the ruler of the Underworld than Hades himself, and in some cases Hades doesn't appeared at all. According to Ovid and the geographer Strabo, Persephone transformed the nymph, named Menthe or Minthe, into a plant, known as mint, when Persphone discovered that Hades was having an affair with the nymph. In the myth about the youth Adonis, Persephone was a rival to Aphrodite, for the young man's affection. Like Hades and Demeter, Persephone and Aphrodite had to compromise, so that Adonis lived part of his time with her and the other with the love goddess. The other third of Adonis' time was to be freely spent on his own.

The Athenian hero Theseus tried to help his best friend, Peirithoüs , king of the Lapiths, to abduct Persephone, because the rash king wanted to marry a daughter of Zeus. Hades knew of their plot, and had cleverly welcomed them into his home. The moment, Theseus and Peirithoüs sat on Hades' chairs, they forgot everything, including the abduction of Hades' wife. Heracles had managed to save Theseus, but had to leave Peirithoüs behind. In the Roman poem, Venus (Aphrodite) had sent her daughter-in-law Psyche , to fetch make-up box from Proserpina (Persephone). Only an immortal could use the content in the cosmetic box, so the moment Psyche opened the box, she fell into a deathly slumber. Cupid (Eros) went into the Underworld, to rescue his wife from the unnatural slumber. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, it says that Persephone was the lady of the golden sword and glorious fruits, which artists had sometimes depicted her carrying a sword in one hand and a basket of fruits in another.

Her favourite woods were poplars and willows. According to one source, Persephone bore Plutus the god of wealth, to Hades. And Plutus was one of Eleusinian gods. Though, Hades and Persephone were usually considered to be childless couple. Plutus was usually said to be Persephone's half-brother and the son of Demeter and Iasion. Usually Persephone was referred to as the daughter of Zeus and Demeter , but in a few accounts, her mother was Rhea . There is either some confusion with Demeter and Rhea, or Rhea and Demeter was one goddess, but Demeter represented a different aspect of Rhea. According to the Orphic myth, Rhea , daughter of Uranus and Rhea, was the wife and consort of Cronus . When Zeus was born, her name changed to Demeter . When Zeus became the new supreme ruler of the world, he raped his mother Rhea/Demeter, and she gave birth to Persephone.

According to the Orphic poems, written by the Neoplatonic philosophers (3rd-4th century AD), Zeus had slept with his own daughter, while he was in the form of a snake, so Persephone became the mother of Dionysus or Zagreus. Through the machination of his jealous consort, Hera , the Titans killed and devoured Zagreus (Dionysus). Zeus destroyed the Titans with his thunderbolts. Mankind was created from the ashes of the Titans. Zagreus' heart was saved, which Zeus had swallowed. Zagreus was reborn when Zeus seduced a mortal woman, Semele , where Zagreus became known as Dionysus . Most of the time, writers had simply called Zagreus as Dionysus. According to the Orphic myth, it is Persephone, who was the final judge, to decide if a person gains entry to Elysium. Those who failed to please her, they would either be punished in Tartarus or the shade would be reincarnated, to live another life among the living. Only those who lived a virtuous life can gain entry to Elysium.

Hecate Hecate was the daughter of Perses or Persaeüs (Persaeus) and Asteria , both of whom were offspring of the Titans. She had also been called a daughter of Demeter. The Romans identified her with Trivia, goddess of the crossroads or of the "Three Ways". However, Trivia may well be a title. Hesiod had repeatedly said in his Theogony that Zeus had given Hecate honour above all. Hecate can bestow wealth on anyone who prayed and sacrificed to her. Hecate has shares of all the wealth in heaven (Olympus), earth and in the Underworld. This is because she have a role to play as moon-goddess, earth (fertility) goddess and goddess of the Underworld. She was sometimes confused with Rhea , Demeter and Persephone as an earth-goddess and goddess of fertility. Again she is confused with Persephone as goddess of the Underworld. She was goddess of night and known as the invisible goddess, where she was accompanied by hell-hounds. Speaking of Persephone, Hecate tried to comfort Demeter , when Hades abducted her daughter.

Hecate told Demeter that she had heard Persephone's cry, but could not identify the abductor. It was she who suggested that Demeter speak with Helius , the sun god who sees everything that happened below him. Later, when Persephone was to stay with her husband for part of the year in the Underworld, Hecate would be Persephone's companion, so that Persephone would not be lonely. Like Artemis and Selene , she was goddess of the moon, but she was associated with dark side of the moon. Hecate had also being identified with Iphigeneia , daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. According to the Catalogues of Women, Hesiod says that when the Greeks sacrificed Iphigeneia, Artemis transformed the maiden into the goddess Hecate. See Sacrifices at Aulis , Trojan War. She was also identified as the goddess of magic and witchcraft. The sorceress, Medea , was one of her high priestesses in her temple in Colchis. In the war against the Giants , she killed Clytius with her torch (see also the War of the Giants ).

According to the Sicilian historian, Diodorus Siculus, in his account about Jason and the Argonauts , Hecate was not a goddess, but a Taurian sorceress, daughter of Perses, king of Tauric Chersonese, and grand daughter of Helius . Hecate was known for her cruelty, and she had poisoned her father and married her uncle, Aeetes, king of Colchis. Hecate became the mother of Circe and Medea . As a high priestess of the Taurian Artemis, she advocated the sacrifices of all strangers who come to Colchis. Styx An Underworld river-goddess. Styx was an Oceanid; the eldest daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She was the only female river goddess. She married the Titan Pallas , and bore him four children (personifications): Bia (violence), Cratus (strength), Nike (victory) and Zelus (emulation). See Nike in the Minor Greek Deities. According to one writer, Styx was said to be the mother of Persephone , by Zeus . But more commonly Persephone was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus.

When the younger gods fought against the Titans, Styx sends her own children to aid Zeus. For this aid, Styx became honoured by the Olympians, that an oaths sworn by the gods in her name was the most inviolable of all oaths. God of wealth. Plutus was the son of the corn goddess Demeter and the mortal Iasion . Iasion was the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra , which make Iasion the brother of Dardanus , ancestor of the Trojan people. Iasion was farmer from the island of Samothrace, whom Demeter had fallen in love with. Iasion made love to the goddess on a thrice-plowed field. Zeus killed his own son for sleeping with the goddess, but Demeter had already fallen pregnant. Demeter gave birth to Plutus. Plutus was usually seen in art, together with Demeter and Persephone , as a boy holding in his hand, either a cornucopia or stalks of grains. According to one source, Plutus was the son of Hades and Persephone. Plutus was worshipped as one of the deities in the Eleusinian Mysteries .

Originally, he was god of wealth, but it meant the wealth or abundance of crops or grains. Later the wealth also means precious metals and stones. To prevent Plutus from bestowing wealth to one person or another as he choose, Zeus blinded the young god, so that he would give wealth to a person, no matter if the person was good or wicked. Hypnos Hypnos was the Greek god of sleep. The Romans identified Hypnos with Somnus , the Roman god of sleep. Hypnos was the son of Nyx . Hypnos was the brother of Thanatos , as well of Moros ("Doom"), Nemesis and Fates . Hypnos was the father of Morpheus , the god of dreams. Hypnos dwelled in a cave beside the Lethe river. At Troy, according to the Iliad, Zeus was helping the Trojans. Hera hated the Trojans, and was angry when she could not help the Greeks. Hera devised a plan to turn the tide against the Trojans. Hera asked Hypnos to make Zeus fall to sleep. Hypnos was very reluctant to aid Hera, because he done this all before.

The last time he caused Zeus to fall sleep; Hera had Heracles' ship wrecked on the island of Cos, after Heracles had conquered Troy. When Zeus woke and found out what had happened to his son, the enraged ruler of Olympus would have destroyed Hypnos. The terrified god of sleep fled to his mother Nyx (Night), where he sought protection against Zeus. The only deity that Zeus truly feared was Nyx. Hera bribed Hypnos with the promise of allowing the god of sleep to marry the Grace Pasithea . Hera seduced Zeus, and with Hypnos' aid, lulled her husband to sleep. The tide immediately changed in favour of the Greeks, and Hector was almost killed by Ajax in the fighting. Again at Troy, Hypnos and Thanatos carried the body of Sarpedon home in Lycia, when Patroclus had killed Sarpedon . Morpheus The Greek god of dreams. Morpheus was the son of Hypnos or the Roman Somnus ("Sleep"). Morpheus was seen as a black-winged god. In the Roman myths, he was only just one of the gods of dreams, known as the Oneiroi (Dreams).

There are 999 other sons of Hypnos/Somnus, who were all gods of dream. Only two other gods are known by names – Icelos or Phobetor and Phantasos. Morpheus could change his appearance to look like any mortal, while Icelos could take on the form of any animal. And Phantasos could only change into any form of nature, such as the earth, rocks, trees or water. Morpheus appeared in Alycone's dream, in the shape of her husband, Ceyx , king of Trachis. Ceyx had drowned when his ship sank in the storm. Alycone went to the shore and threw herself into the sea, where she perished. Alycone and Ceyx were transformed into kingfishers. See Ceyx and Alycone . Charon The ferryman of the Underworld river. Charon's only duty was to ferry the shades across the Underworld river of Styx . I am not certain if Charon was a minor god, spirit or just an immortal being. Charon required only fare of one coin (obol) from each shade, to ferry the dead across.

It was Greek custom to put a coin in the dead, before burial. The others, who couldn't pay, would wander restlessly for over hundred years before allowed across. Normally Charon would allow the livings to cross. Psyche paid Charon to ferry her across Styx, as did Theseus and Peirithoüs . Heracles got away from paying Charon, by threatening the ferryman. Orpheus had also got a free ride, because of his enchanting music and voice. Charon was often described as ancient looking man, clothed in loincloth. In astronomy, Charon is Pluto's moon or satellite. Erinyes ( Furies ) Female spirits who punished offenders against blood kin. The Erinyes (Ἐρινύες) were named Alector, Tisiphone and Megaera. They were born together with the Giants and the Meliae, from the earth where blood landed from the severed genitals Uranus . They were better known as the Furies, by the Romans. The Erinyes seemed to reside in the Underworld, the World of the Dead. It was Erinyes who brought condemned souls to Tartarus for their punishment, after the judgement of Themis .

One of their more famous victims was Orestes . When Orestes murdered his own mother, Clytemnestra, the Erinyes persecuted him for many years, inflicting him with madness. With Orestes, the oracle from Delphi and the god Apollo (Orestes' protector), ordered the young man to kill his mother. To avenge his father, Orestes faced persecution and madness from the Erinyes. Failure to avenge his father's death will also result in persecution and madness. Orestes was in a "no-win situation". Which ever choice Orestes made he would be haunted by the Erinyes. Similarly, Alcmeon had killed his mother and was driven mad by the Erinyes. Alcmeon had a choice of ignoring his father's order – to kill his mother; Orestes was not given this choice. When Athena and the Athenian jury acquitted Orestes, Athenians appeased the Erinyes, by offering to build a temple to them within their city. Their name was changed to Eumenides (Εἐμοδπος), which means the "Kindly Ones".

Three Judges There were three mortals, who had earned the favours of the gods; they earned immortality after their death. These three judges were powerful rulers, and all three were the sons of Zeus . Aeacus (Αἄάκός) was the son of Zeus and the nymph, Aegina , daughter of the river god Asopus. Aeacus was king of the island of Aegina, where he was known for his piety and wisdom. It was this wisdom and piety that earned him immortality and become one of the three judges of the underworld. Rhadamanthys (´Ραδάμανθυν) was the son of Zeus and Europa , and brother of Minos, who became a fellow judge in the Underworld. Rhadamanthys was known as the lawgiver in Crete, because of his wisdom and justice. For this reason, he was given immortality as a judge in the Underworld. It was said that Rhadamanthys became the ruler of the Elysium. See Minos and his Brothers in the Minoan Crete page, for more detail about Rhadamanthys.

Minos (Μίνως) as a choice as one of the three judges, it bit of mystery, because he was a most unlikely candidate. Minos, like his brother Rhadamanthys, was the son of Zeus and Europa . Rhadamanthys was chosen because of his love law and justice, while Aeacus was a very pious man. Minos, on the other hand, did not possess any of the qualities of the other two judges. Minos was the most powerful ruler of the time. He was an arrogant ruler of Crete, who had offended Poseidon, the powerful god of the sea. See Minos in Minoan Crete.

Question: In Greek mythology, what is the region beneath the Underworld, where the wicked were sent as punishment for their sins?
Answer: Tartarus